The modes of
Donald Street
1. INTRODUCTION. The growing acceptance of
Messiaen'smusic has stimulatedinterestin various
technical aspects of his work. One important ele-
ment, particularlyin his earliercompositions,is his
use of certain modes, seven in all, which he terms
'modes of limited transposition'. Two common
misconceptions have grown up concerning them:
that the sevenmodes Messiaendescribesare the only
ones possible, and that they are all of his own in-
vention. Although the ingenious, if perhapsa little
subjectivesystem of classificationappearsto be his,
several of these modes have been employed inde-
pendentlyby a widevarietyof composers,and modes
1 and 2 in particularhave quite a long history.
Modes of limited transpositioncomprise 10, 9,
8, 6 or even 4 differentnotes to the octave, and can
be divided into 4, 3 or 2 segments, each of which
has the same intervallic'structure,the last note of
one segment also being the first note of the next.
Such modes are possible becauseof the symmetrical
structure of the equal-temperedchromatic scale,
with its 12 semitones. They are 'of limited trans-
position' in Messiaen's sense because certain
transpositions retain exactly the same notes. For
example, any transpositionof the whole-tone scale
(Messiaen'smode 1, ex.1) will be confinedto one of
Ex. 1 Ex. 2
Mode Mode 2
Ex. 3
Mode3
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- ^ b4 II11
Ex. 4
Mode 4
Mode 5
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W , II
Mode 7 Ex. 5 a
I 11 4
-".N"#.'
c d - - e any others (excepting the chromatic scale) by
I,,t'1 "Ij,^ b"''I
I
t'"".11^. "^
the following groups of notes: C, D, E, Ft, G#, A#
and C#, Eb, F, G, A, B. Mode 1 thus has only
two transpositions.Mode 2 (ex.2) is composed of
four segments, each comprising the intervals of a
tone and a semitone (or the reverse).As a result it
is transposable (enharmonically)three times, like
the chord of the diminished 7th. Mode 3 (ex.3)
consists of three segments,each comprisinga tone
followed by two semitones (or alternatively two
semitones and a tone, or a semitone, a tone and a
semitone). Like the augmented triad it is trans-
posable four times. Modes 4-7 (ex.4) all consist of
two segments, and all of them can be transposed
six times, as can the intervalof the augmented4th.
limited transposition
The attraction of the modes of limited trans-
position is in the tonal ambiguitywhich resultsfrom
their symmetry, for, as Messiaen points out, a
tonality can be emphasizedor left unsettled.From
this point of view, the greater the symmetry the
greaterthe possibilities,and so those modes which
are transposablesix times are of less interest than
those transposabletwo, three or four times; they
were, indeed, rarely used before Messiaen, and he
himself uses them much less frequently than the
others. In his Technique de mon langage musical
he lists, in addition to the seven modes, a further
four, two of which he regardsas 'truncated'forms
of mode 2 (ex.5a-b), and two as truncatedforms of
mode 5 (ex.5c-d), though the latter pair are in fact
merely differenttranspositionsof the same mode.
All these modes are transposablesix times. Further
such modes are, he claims, impossible to find
within the temperedchromatic system, unless one
counts those modes whose notes are identical to
those of the classified chords (the diminished 7th
and the augmentedtriad), to which may be added
that shown in ex.5e. Ex.5f however is a six-note
mode, transposable four times, not listed by
Messiaen.The chromaticscale resemblesthe whole-
tone scale in so far as its intervals are all equal,
though its 12 identical one-semitone segments
render it incapable of transpositionin Messiaen's
sense. However in an octave divided into 24 equal
quarter-tones,it becomes a mode of limited trans-
position, transposabletwice.
Closer analysis shows that exx.5a-b are not only
truncatedformsof mode 2; they may also be derived
from modes 4, 6 or 7. Similarly,exx.5c-d may be
derivedfrom modes 2, 4, 6 or 7 as well as 5. Again,
Mode 6
thereis no reasonat all whymode 5 should be distin-
I II
|" ,, rt guished as independent while exx.5a-b are
regarded as truncated forms; mode 5 could be
b = seen as a truncatedform of mode 4 (as Messiaen
r 1 ' states),or of modes 6 and 7. Indeed,modes 3 and 7
are the only ones which cannot be derived from
Messiaen'struncation.The whole-tonescale (mode
1), for example, could be regardedas a truncated
form of mode 3, 6 or 7.
2. MODE1. The most generallyknown and widely
used of Messiaen's modes is mode 1, the whole-
tone scale. This appears to have been first system-
aticallyemployedby Glinka in RuslanandLyudmila
(1837-42), although there may possibly have been
earlier instances. (An ascending whole-tone scale
does occur at the end of the solo violin cadenza
in the second movement of Mozart's Ein musikal-
ischer Spass K522,where it is intendedas a comic
effect to simulate the faulty intonation of an in-
competentviolinist.) In Glinka's opera the mode is
associated with the character of Chernomor, the
wicked dwarf, and in its descending form it also
forms a harmonic basis towards the end of the
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